Suspicions (episode)
Dr. Crusher violates Starfleet regulations and medical ethics when she investigates the death of a Ferengi scientist. Summary Guinan visits Dr. Crusher in her quarters, complaining of tennis elbow. Crusher breaks the news that she is no longer a doctor on the ship and will be facing a court martial. A Ferengi scientist, Dr. Reyga, has created a metaphasic shielding technique, but his unorthodox methods have left most scientists in the field ignoring his work. Dr. Crusher decided to play "scientific diplomat" and invite other scientists in the field to come to the ''Enterprise'' and view a demonstration of the doctor's prototype. A shuttle is to be fitted with Dr. Reyga's shield and flown into a nearby star. As they are all skeptical, they decide that someone other than the Ferengi should pilot the shuttle. Jo'Bril volunteers. At the test flight, they all watch from the bridge as Jo'Bril enters the star. Everything seems to be going as planned until suddenly Jo'Bril becomes short of breath, and barely pilots the shuttle out of the star before dying. Everyone considers Reyga a failure, but he cannot accept that something went wrong. No one can find any trouble with the shuttlecraft. Also, Dr. Crusher cannot determine the cause of Jo'Bril's death. In fact, she cannot understand his physiology at all, especially why his cells seem to be decaying at such a slow rate. However, he is judged dead. Reyga pleads with the other scientists to allow him a second test. Dr. Crusher refuses, but he seems determined to prove himself. A few hours later, he is found dead from a plasma discharge. It is judged a suicide by Worf, but Beverly is incredulous. Dr. Crusher discusses how unusual this seems with Captain Picard. She is determined to perform an autopsy, but the captain informs her that it is out of the question, as the family insists the body not be desecrated before they can perform the Ferengi death ritual. Frustrated, Dr. Crusher decides to perform an investigation. She confronts Christopher and T'Pan, and Christopher becomes incensed. Eventually, he mentions that Kurak and Reyga had a fiery argument. Dr. Crusher then confronts the Klingon scientist, much to her own peril. As she determines Kurak also did not murder Reyga, she finds herself stumped. Knowing she will be disobeying a direct order, she performs an autopsy on Reyga... and finds nothing. She informs Picard, who is extremely disappointed. Picard has no choice but to relieve her from duty. We emerge from the flashback to find her speaking with Guinan, who encourages her to continue her investigation, as she has nothing left to lose. After a brief interlude with William Riker, urging Beverly to not do anything stupid, we find that she has taken Dr. Reyga's shuttle into the star herself! Picard urges her to come back, but to no avail. In the shuttle, Jo'Bril emerges from his hiding place, and tells Dr. Crusher that his species is able to control their metabolic function to the point where they can simulate death. He admits that the metaphasic shield is a reality, and that he plans to simulate a warp core breach in the shuttle, wait until the Enterprise leaves (as its sensors cannot penetrate the star's coronasphere), and then take her and the shuttle back to his homeworld, where he will perfect the technique and sell it as his own. Dr. Crusher fights back, finally having to completely vaporize Jo'Bril in order to defeat him. She returns the the ship, happy to have vindicated Reyga, and unafraid of the court martial. She replicates a tennis racket for Guinan to never get tennis elbow again – but Guinan admits she has never played tennis. Background Information *This episode marks the final appearance of Guinan on the series, though she remains on the Enterprise-D. She plays an integral role in , and has an appearance in . *According to this episode, Ferengi bodies are not supposed to be touched after they die; however, this contradicts (which was filmed the same year), where we learn that their bodies are vacuum dessicated and sold off. Links and References Guest Stars *Patti Yasutake as Alyssa Ogawa *Tricia O'Neil as Kurak *Peter Slutsker as Reyga *James Horan as Jo'Bril *John S. Ragin as Christopher *Joan Stuart Morris as T'Pan Special Guest Star *Whoopi Goldberg as Guinan Uncredited Co-Stars * David Keith Anderson as Armstrong References Altine Conference; autonomic functions scan; baryon; Board of inquiry; Brooks (Admiral); Celsius; Ferengi death ritual; formal inquiry; ''Galaxy''-class; Jo'Bril; Justman; Kelvin; medical tricorder; metaphasic shield; morgue; phased ionic pulse; plasma infuser; rad; science lab; science station; Selar; sickbay; Starbase 23; subspace morphology; Takara; Takaran; tennis elbow; tennis racket; tetryon; tetryon radiation; type-6 shuttlecraft; Veytan; Vulcan Science Academy |next= }} Category:TNG episodes de:Verdächtigungen es:Suspicions fr:Suspicions nl:Suspicions